THE DEBT-LIMIT DEBATE – AT 11:03 A.M. ET:  The House is scheduled to vote today on the Boehner plan.  While far from perfect, the plan is the only practical proposal currently on the table that our side might be able to support.  The vote is expected to be close.

Even if passed, the plan has little chance of getting through the Democratic-controlled Senate.  But by passing it, the House would give life to an actual plan, not a theory, and negotiations might result. 

House Speaker John Boehner and his Republican deputies are in a fight to the buzzer to round up enough support to pass his deficit-reduction bill, as the House begins arguably the most harrowing series of votes in his tenure -- with the nation's borrowing power, the economy and everybody's interest rates in the balance.
As Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said over the weekend, the administration did not expect Congress to come this close to the Aug. 2 deadline. That's the date when the country will no longer be able to pay all its bills without a debt-ceiling increase, according to Treasury, risking the possibility of default.

While some conservatives balk at the Boehner plan as not going far enough in spending cuts, others point out that it has one significant advantage over other ideas being floated – it maintains American military power.  From NRO:

As House Republicans debate whether to support the Boehner debt-limit package, one key issue is getting overlooked in the debate: Unlike the alternatives presented by Democrats and bipartisan commissions, the Boehner plan avoids significant defense cuts, making it the best option for conservatives concerned about U.S. national security.

For decades, Republicans have been viewed by voters as the party of national security. Voters have come to trust the Grand Old Party to keep Americans safe and maintain America’s defenses. In the 1980s, President Reagan bucked political pressure to cut defense, instead conducting a defense buildup that led to victory in the Cold War and pulled America out of what he called Carter’s “world of make-believe.” Pres. George H. W. Bush helped orchestrate the emergence of a Europe whole and free, and ousted Iraqi forces from Kuwait.

In contrast, significant cuts to the defense and intelligence budgets by President Clinton in the name of deficit reduction left the United States unprepared for the challenges posed by the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. As Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta recently said at his confirmation hearing, the Clinton approach “might not have been the best way to achieve those savings.”

COMMENT:  Panetta has emerged as a pretty solid guy in the tradition of the old Democratic Party, which cared about national defense.  By contrast, as the article later points out, some Republicans, lured by the desire for deficit reduction, seem prepared to abandon traditional Republican support for a strong military, in favor of short-term budget gains. 

We had four military drawdowns in the 20th century, and lived to regret each one.  Do we learn from history, or just forget it?

July 28, 2011